JP2007190815A - Printing apparatus, program and method for printing quality information of printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing apparatus capable of printing information of the quality for confirming whether the printing is appropriately performed or not while waste of the paper and the ink caused by poor printing and waste of processing time are suppressed, and to provide a program and a method for printing the information of the quality on a printing apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: In the printing apparatus for printing printing data constituted of prescribed job units, whether there exists any problem on a printing head at each timing when the printing the printing data is in the middle way, and when the printing is finished, is detected, and when there exists a problem, the information on the quality indicating it is printed on a medium to be printed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, a program, and a printing apparatus quality information printing method.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a printing apparatus that determines whether or not printing has been performed properly, and prints a mark indicating that if printing has not been performed properly (see, for example, Patent Document 1). As a result, it has become possible to reliably check whether printing has been performed properly without requiring a complicated operation of manually inspecting individual printed matter.
JP 09-240120 A

By the way, in the case of the above-described printing apparatus, as a method of determining whether or not printing has been performed properly, image data of print data stored before printing and reading after actually printing are read. A method is employed in which the image data of the printed matter is collated and whether or not the printing state is appropriate is determined based on the collation result. However, in this method, since it is determined whether or not the printing state is appropriate after printing is actually performed, printing is performed to the end even if the printing state is not appropriate. For this reason, anything printed in an inappropriate state becomes invalid, and not only paper and ink are wasted, but also the time required for printing is wasted.

In view of the above-described problems, the present invention prints quality information for checking whether printing has been performed properly while suppressing waste of paper and ink due to defective printing and waste of processing time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus, a program, and a printing apparatus quality information printing method capable of performing the above.

The printing apparatus according to the present invention has a defect in the print data printing unit that prints print data configured in units of a predetermined job, and the print data printing unit at each timing during the printing of the print data and at the end of printing. And a quality information printing unit that prints quality information indicating that there is a defect on the print medium when the detection unit detects a defect.

Similarly, the quality information printing method of the printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a print data printing step for printing print data configured in a predetermined job unit, a middle of printing of the print data, and a timing at the end of printing. A detection step for detecting whether or not there is a defect in the print data printing step; and a quality information printing step for printing quality information indicating that there is a defect on the print medium when the defect is detected in the detection step. It is characterized by that.

According to these configurations, in addition to the timing at the end of printing of the print data, it is detected whether there is a malfunction in the printing apparatus (print data printing means) at a timing in the middle of printing. It can be prevented from continuing as much as possible. Therefore, it is possible to print quality information for confirming whether or not printing has been performed appropriately, while significantly reducing waste of paper and ink due to defective printing and waste of processing time. Note that it is preferable to perform maintenance processing (for example, head cleaning) of the printing apparatus in response to the detection of the malfunction.

In this case, when the detection unit detects a problem at a timing during printing, it is preferable that the print data printing unit reprints the print data that has been printed.

According to this configuration, print data that has been interrupted due to detection of a malfunction in the printing apparatus (print data printing unit) is automatically reprinted, so that the user can perform printing appropriately. It is possible to save the trouble of performing complicated operations such as grasping the missing print data and instructing to reprint the print data. Before starting reprinting, it is preferable that the printing apparatus performs a maintenance process to eliminate the problem of the printing apparatus.

In these cases, if the detection unit does not detect a failure at the end of printing, the quality information printing unit further prints quality information regarding the print quality of the print data based on the detection result of the detection unit. It is preferable.

According to this configuration, quality information is printed on the print medium even when the detection means does not detect a defect at the timing when printing of the print data is finished. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately print by checking the quality information. Can be surely recognized.

In these cases, it is preferable that the detection unit further performs detection at a timing immediately before the start of printing the print data.

According to this configuration, by further detecting at the timing of starting printing, there is no possibility of starting printing while the printing apparatus (print data printing unit) is defective.

In these cases, it is preferable that the quality information printing unit further prints the total number of printed pages for each print data as the quality information.

According to this configuration, by checking the quality information, it is possible to easily grasp the number of pages required for printing one print data without manually counting the number of print media. Also, when a malfunction of the printing apparatus is detected, the number of pages that have been printed before the malfunction of the printing apparatus is detected is known, so that a loss due to a printing defect can be grasped instantaneously.

In these cases, the quality information printing means preferably encodes and prints the quality information.

According to this configuration, by encoding and printing the quality information, the print area necessary for printing the quality information can be reduced, and various information can be easily added as the quality information in addition to the information indicating the print quality. Can be printed. It is also possible to systematize the print quality confirmation process by causing the other device to read the printed code.

Further, in these cases, it is preferable that the printed matter of the printing apparatus is to be sealed by a sealing machine provided with a reading unit that reads the printed quality information.

According to this configuration, the quality information printed on the print medium can be used for each process performed by the sealing machine. For example, the sealing machine can read out the quality information to eliminate a printed matter with defective printing, or to specify the cut position or the folding position of the printed matter based on the number of pages included in the quality information.

Further, in these cases, when the number of pages required for printing one print data is a plurality of pages, it is preferable that the detection unit executes detection at each timing immediately before the start of printing of each page and at the end of printing.

According to this configuration, detection by the detection unit is not performed while printing one page of print data. Accordingly, since an unnatural operation such as temporarily interrupting printing in the middle of the page is not performed, there is no possibility that the user will be confused.

  In these cases, the printing apparatus is preferably an ink jet printer.

According to this configuration, the printing apparatus of the present invention can be applied to an inkjet printer capable of color printing.

A program according to the present invention is for causing a computer to function each unit in the printing apparatus according to any one of the above.

When this program is executed by the computer, quality information is printed to check whether printing has been performed properly while suppressing waste of paper and ink due to defective printing and waste of processing time. A possible printing device can be realized.

Hereinafter, a printing apparatus, a program, and a printing apparatus quality information printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The printing apparatus or the like of the present invention inspects whether or not there is a defect in the printing apparatus (printing head) at a predetermined timing in the printing process,
Quality information based on the inspection result is printed on a print medium. Therefore, the printing apparatus and the like of the present invention will be described by applying it to an ink jet printer that creates a printed material to be sent to a customer, for example, represented by direct mail.

First, an overall configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the periphery of a printing head of the printing apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 1 has an outer case constituted by an apparatus case 3 whose upper surface is covered with an apparatus cover 2. A device frame 11 in which the internal device 6 is incorporated is fixed to the device case 3. A tray-like mounting frame 12 including a base frame 13 and a pair of side frames 14 is fixed to the front portion of the apparatus frame 11. An accommodation pocket 15 for accommodating continuous paper serving as a printing medium is formed at the rear of the apparatus frame 11, and a cover frame 16 that supports the apparatus cover 2 so as to be opened and closed is fixed. Then, the continuous paper stored in the storage pocket 15 is fed along the feed path and discharged from a paper discharge port (not shown) formed in the apparatus cover 2.

The internal device 6 basically includes a printing unit 31 having a print head 61 for printing on a printing medium (continuous paper), a feeding unit 32 for feeding the printing medium along a feeding path, and an ink cartridge. 111, an ink supply unit 33 that supplies ink to the print head 61, a maintenance unit 34 (see FIG. 2) that performs maintenance of the print head 61, and a control unit that controls these units in association with each other, thereby A control unit 35 (see FIG. 3) for controlling the whole;
It has.

The printing unit 31 includes a print head 61, a head moving mechanism 41 for moving the print head 61 in the X-axis direction, and a head unit 42 that is supported by the head moving mechanism 41 and on which the print head 61 is mounted. ing.

The head moving mechanism 41 includes a carriage motor 51 (control motor) for moving the head unit 42 (print head 61) in the X-axis direction, that is, the main scanning direction, and a right drive pulley 52 connected to the carriage motor 51. A timing belt 54 spanned between a left driven pulley (not shown) and a guide member 55 that supports the head unit 42 slidably in the X-axis direction and guides the movement of the head unit 42. is doing.

The driving pulley 52 and the driven pulley are fixed to the mounting frame 12 so that the timing belt 54 is stretched in parallel with the main scanning direction. The guide member 55 is stretched over the side frame 14 in parallel with the main scanning direction. The guide member 55 includes a guide rod 56 and a guide plate 57, and a carriage 62 on which the head unit 42 (printing head 61) is mounted is slidably supported by these members.

The print head 61 ejects ink droplets onto a print medium that is sent along a feed path.
An ink introduction unit that receives ink supplied from the ink cartridge 111 and a head main body (both not shown) for discharging the supplied ink are included. The head body
The print head 61 is configured to discharge ink droplets from the discharge nozzle by a pumping action of the cavity. The nozzle plate includes a nozzle plate having a large number of discharge nozzles and a piezoelectric element. The head unit 42 is configured as a unit so that the print head 61 can be mounted on the carriage 62.

The carriage 62 reciprocates via the timing belt 54 (in the main scanning direction) while holding the head unit 42 (printing head 61) by forward and reverse rotation of the carriage motor 51. The placement frame 12 is provided with an X-axis linear encoder so that the movement position of the carriage that moves the head movement area in the main scanning direction can be accurately grasped.

The feeding unit 32 feeds the print medium in the sub-scanning direction (Y-axis direction) along the feeding path. The feeding unit 32 feeds the continuous paper stored in the storage pocket 15 and uses the fed continuous paper as the feeding path. A feed mechanism (not shown) that feeds the paper to the paper discharge port, a feed motor 141 (see FIG. 3) that is a drive source of the continuous paper feed mechanism, and a power transmission mechanism (not shown) that transmits the power of the feed motor to the feed mechanism ) And.

The ink supply unit 33 is mounted on the mounting frame 12 and connects the ink cartridge 111 that stores ink, the ink cartridge 111 and the print head 61, and supplies ink from the ink cartridge 111 to the print head 61. And a liquid supply tube (not shown). The printing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is a color printer. The printing apparatus 1 includes an ink cartridge 111a filled with black (B) ink and a yellow (Y) ink.
And an ink cartridge 111b filled with magenta (M) and cyan (C) inks.

As shown in FIG. 2, the maintenance unit 34 of the print head 61 is disposed at the home position (non-printing area) of the print head 61, and the ink droplet discharge state from the print head 61 (discharge nozzle). A discharge sensor 62 for detecting the above, a wiping unit 63 and a suction unit 64. The ejection sensor 62 detects clogging of each nozzle by converting the contact state between the ink droplets ejected from each nozzle of the print head 61 and the ejection sensor 62 into an output voltage (hereinafter, this detection). Is referred to as dot missing detection).
Specifically, by comparing the output voltage stored in the control unit 35 in advance when all the nozzles are in a normal state with the actually output output voltage, whether each nozzle includes a defective nozzle. Detect whether or not.

The wiping unit 63 performs wiping of the nozzle opening surface by a wiper blade (not shown) after the suction processing by the suction unit 64. The wiper blade
It is made of rubber, soft resin, or the like, and is incorporated at the tip of the wiping unit 63 so as to protrude upward. A wiping operation is performed by the print head 61 mounted on the carriage 62 reciprocatingly moving in the main scanning direction with respect to the wiper blade.

On the other hand, when the print head 61 has moved to a position directly above, the suction unit 64 moves upward and seals the nozzle formation surface of the print head 61 and applies a negative pressure to the suction cap. And a suction pump (see FIG. 3), and the suction unit 64 performs an ink suction process which is one of the ink discharge processes (maintenance processes).

The suction cap applies a negative pressure from the suction pump 65 (see FIG. 3) to each nozzle of the print head 61 to perform ink suction processing, and also during the rest period of the printing apparatus, the nozzle opening surface of the print head 61 Functions as a lid that suppresses evaporation of the ink solvent and contact with the atmosphere. The ink sucked by the ink sucking process is stored in a waste ink storage tank connected to the suction cap. The waste ink storage tank contains a fibrous waste ink absorber, and the sucked or discarded ink (empty discharge) is absorbed by the waste ink absorber.

In addition, the suction cap is opposed to the print head 61 in a flushing process, which is another process of the ink discharge process (maintenance process). It also functions as an ink receiver. The flushing process is performed by discarding and discharging a predetermined amount of ink while the print head 61 is moved to the home position at a rate of once every several minutes during the printing process.

Next, the control configuration of the printing apparatus 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the printing apparatus 1 includes a data input / output unit 110 for inputting / outputting data (print data, control data) and various commands from the host computer 200, and a power switch 121. A power supply unit 120 that supplies power, a printing unit 130 (31) that performs printing based on print data, a feeding unit 140 (32) that feeds a print medium (continuous paper) in the sub-scanning direction, and a print head 61 a maintenance unit 150 (34) for performing maintenance processing of 61, a drive unit 160 for driving each unit,
A control unit 170 (35) connected to each of these units and controlling the entire printing apparatus 1 is provided.

The data input / output unit 110 has an interface 111, and communicates with the host computer 200 via the interface 111. The printing unit 130 includes the print head 61 and the carriage motor 51 described above. The print head 61 and the carriage motor 51 are connected to the mounting frame 1.
While the position of the carriage 62 is grasped by an X-axis linear encoder (not shown) arranged in 2 and driven in synchronization, printing is performed on the print medium. Further, the printing apparatus 1 can perform printing with a specified color based on data from the host computer 200. In addition to the print data received from the host computer 200, the printing unit 130 prints the quality information of the print data on the print medium based on the detection result of the missing dot detection performed by the ejection sensor 62 described above (for details, see FIG. Will be described later).

The feed unit 140 includes a feed motor 141 and the like, and feeds the print medium in the sub-scanning direction by driving the feed motor 141 and synchronizing the feed mechanism. The maintenance unit 150 includes a discharge sensor 62, a wiping unit 63, a suction unit 64, and a suction pump 65.
Etc., and the maintenance of the print head 61 is performed. The drive unit 160 includes a head driver 161 for driving the print head 61, various motors (carriage motor 51, feed motor 1).
41, etc.), a maintenance driver 163 for driving the wiping unit 63 and the suction unit 64, and a pump driver 164 for driving the suction pump 65.

The control unit 170 includes a CPU 171, a ROM 172, a RAM 175, and an input / output control circuit 178.
(IOC), which are connected to each other by an internal bus 179. ROM
A control program area 173 stores a control program processed by the CPU 171.
In addition, it has a control data area 174 for storing control data corresponding to a control command (such as print control data) transmitted from the host computer 200. Note that the printing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment stores a program for generating image data obtained by encoding predetermined information, and can print a symbol image such as a barcode or a two-dimensional code. ing.

The RAM 175 has various flag areas and register groups in addition to the reception buffer 176 that stores data input from the outside and the print buffer 177 that stores image data for printing, and is rewritten for control processing. Used as a region. CPU171 is R
In accordance with a control program in the OM 172, various detection signals, various commands, various data and the like are input via the IOC 178, and after processing various data and the like in the RAM 175, a control signal is output to the drive unit 160 via the IOC 178. In this way, the printing unit 1 is controlled by the control unit 170.
Are controlled so that the entire printing apparatus 1 is controlled.

Subsequently, print data to be processed by the printing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, and the printing apparatus 1.
The print medium will be described. As described above, the printing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment creates a printed material to be sent to a customer, and the print data is configured in units of jobs in which the print data for one customer is one job.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the print data includes configuration data that defines the configuration of the print data,
Print data that is actually printed on a print medium. The configuration data includes job ID, the number of print pages required for printing a job, and page length data that is the length of one page. At the same time, the print data includes destination data that is a destination for sending the printed matter, and content data that is the contents to be sent to each customer. The print page of the destination data is fixedly defined as the first page, and the number of print pages of the content data is an arbitrary number of pages depending on the content.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the printing medium of the printing apparatus 1 is continuous paper, and 1 for each job.
The destination data is printed on the page, and the content data is printed thereafter. Further, when the address is described on an envelope or the like, all the print data may be content data.

By the way, the printing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has the above-described print head 61 (discharge nozzle) of the discharge sensor 62 at each timing immediately before the start of printing of one job (print data), during printing, and at the end of printing. Execute missing dot detection. As a result, it is possible to minimize the possibility that printing is performed in a state where the print head 61 (discharge nozzle) is defective. Hereinafter, description will be given with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a series of print processing of one job by the printing apparatus 1.
As shown in the figure, when the printing apparatus 1 receives print data from the host computer 200 and confirms that the paper feed process has been performed normally, the printing apparatus 1 first executes dot missing detection by the ejection sensor 62 (S01). . When the dot missing detection is completed, the control unit 35 determines the detection result (S02). In this determination, if the detection result indicates that the print head 61 (ejection nozzle) is not defective (S02: No), the printing process is started (S03). If the detection result indicates that the print head 61 (discharge nozzle) has a problem (S02).
: Yes), the above-described maintenance unit 34 (wiping unit 63 and suction unit 6)
According to 4), the print head 61 is cleaned (S04).

After that, when the printing process for one page of continuous paper is completed (S05), the missing dot detection by the ejection sensor 62 is executed again (S06). When the dot missing detection is completed, the control unit 3
5 discriminates the detection result (S07). In this determination, the detection result is the print head 61.
When it is indicated that there is no problem in (discharge nozzle) (S07: No), the control unit 35 is further provided.
In step S08, it is determined whether the printing process for one job (print data) is completed. Here, when the printing process of one job (print data) is completed (S08: Yes), the detection result of the dot missing detection performed immediately before (corresponding to S06), the total number of printed pages, and Is printed as quality information (S09). If the printing process for one job (print data) has not been completed (S08: No), the page break process is performed (S10), and the process proceeds to the printing process for the next page (that is, again corresponds to S01). Dot missing detection is performed). Note that the page break process includes counting up the page counter and the like in addition to paper feeding. It goes without saying that the page counter is reset every time one job is completed.

On the other hand, in the dot missing detection at the time when the printing process for one page is completed (corresponding to S06), when the detection result indicates that the print head 61 (discharge nozzle) has a problem (S
07: Yes), the print data processing is interrupted (S11), and the missing dot detection performed immediately before (
The detection result (corresponding to S06) and the total number of printed pages printed are printed as quality information (S
12). Then, after page break processing is performed (S13), the control unit 35 instructs reprinting of the job (print data) whose processing has been interrupted (S14). By this instruction, reprinting of the print data of the job instructed to reprint is executed. Note that the print head 61 is cleaned before reprinting is performed, and this is printed as quality information (corresponding to S12).
You may go before.

That is, when the above-described printing process for one page (corresponding to S05) is the processing of the first page of the job (print data), the dot missing detection (corresponding to S01) performed before starting printing is one. This corresponds to dot missing detection performed at a timing immediately before the start of printing of (print data), and the other dot missing detection (corresponding to S06) corresponds to dot missing detection performed at a timing during printing. It is.

On the other hand, when the printing process for one page (corresponding to S05) is the processing of the end page of the job (print data), the dot missing detection (corresponding to S06) performed after page printing is 1 (
This corresponds to dot missing detection performed at the end of printing (print data), and the other dot missing detection (corresponding to S01) corresponds to dot missing detection performed at the middle of printing. is there. Further, when the printing process for one page (corresponding to S05) is the printing process of the intermediate page of the job (print data), the dot missing detection executed is equivalent to the dot missing detection performed at a timing during printing. Will be.

Next, a specific description will be given with reference to an example of the printed matter shown in FIG. The printed matter shown in the figure shows an example in which a job (print data) with ID “1” and ID “2” is printed.
Both print data have 3 print pages. As shown in the figure, the ID “1”
In the dot missing detection performed at the timing of starting the printing of the first page of the job “”, it is confirmed that the print head 61 (ejection nozzle) is not defective, so the printing process for the first page is executed. ing. Also, in the dot missing detection performed at the timing when the printing process for the first page is completed, it is confirmed that there is no problem in the print head 61 (discharge nozzle), and the process is continued as it is.

Furthermore, in dot missing detection performed at the timing of starting printing of the second page,
Again, since it has been confirmed that there is no problem with the print head 61 (discharge nozzle), the second page is printed. In addition, it is confirmed that there is no problem in the print head 61 (discharge nozzle) even in dot missing detection (detection during printing of a job (print data)) performed at the timing when the printing process for the second page is completed. And the process continues.

Furthermore, in the dot missing detection performed at the timing of starting the printing of the third page,
Again, since it has been confirmed that there is no problem with the print head 61 (discharge nozzle), printing of the third page is executed. Next, it has been confirmed that the print head 61 (ejection nozzle) has no problem even in the dot missing detection performed at the timing when the printing process for the third page is completed. Here, since the printing of all pages of the job with ID “1” is completed, the symbol image B1 in which the quality information is coded is printed.

As shown in the figure, the symbol image B1 printed on the third page of the job with ID “1” includes
The job ID “1”, “print OK” indicating that the print result is good, and the number of print pages “3” are included.

Subsequently, it is confirmed that there is no defect in the print head 61 (discharge nozzle) in the dot missing detection performed at the timing of starting the printing of the first page of the job with ID “2”.
Printing of the first page of the job of D “2” is executed. Next, in the dot missing detection performed at the timing when the printing process for the first page is completed, it is confirmed here that there is a problem with the print head 61 (discharge nozzle). At this time, the ID “2” is detected. Printing of the job is interrupted, and a symbol image B2 in which quality information is encoded is printed.

As shown in the figure, the symbol image B2 printed during the printing of the job with ID “2” has a job ID “2”, “print NG” indicating that the print result is bad, and the number of print pages “
1 ”is included.

Then, after the print head 61 is cleaned, dot missing detection is performed again,
After confirming that there is no defect in the print head 61 (discharge nozzle) based on the detection result, again I
The first page of the job of D “2” is being printed. The second and third pages are printed in this order, and it is confirmed that there is no problem with the print head 61 (discharge nozzle) in the dot missing detection performed at the timing when the third page print processing is completed. After being
A symbol image B3 in which quality information is coded is printed.

As shown in the figure, the symbol image B1 printed on the third page of the job with ID “2” includes
The job ID “2”, “print OK” indicating that the print result is good, and the contents of the print page number “3” are included.

As described above, the printing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment determines whether or not there is a problem with the print head 61 (ejection nozzle) at the timing when printing of one job (print data) is started or when printing is completed. If there is a defect, quality information indicating that fact is printed on the print medium, so that waste of paper and ink and waste of processing time due to defective printing are greatly suppressed, and quality information Printing can be performed. Further, since the quality information includes the number of printed pages, the number of pages lost due to printing failure can be grasped instantaneously.

In addition, when the vendor charges the user who uses the printing apparatus 1 by the number of pages printed, the information on the number of lost pages is the printed matter on which the quality information is printed or the quality information from the printing apparatus 1. It can be grasped by transmitting to the host computer 200. Therefore, by subtracting the number of lost pages from the number of printed pages, it is possible to know the number of pages that have been printed normally without any problems. As a result, it is possible to charge only for the number of pages printed normally. That is, this quality information can have a role of print guarantee in the accounting system.

As described above, it is assumed that the printing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment creates a printed material to be sent to a customer, and the printed material is then sealed by a sealing machine. Therefore, the sealing machine is equipped with a scanner, and by reading the quality information (symbol images B1, B2, B3) printed on the printed matter, for example, a process of sealing while discharging “print NG” can be realized. It is also possible to specify the cutting position and folding position of the printed material based on the number of printed pages included in the quality information. Of course, information indicating the cutting position and the folding position may be included in the quality information for printing. In this way, information indicating the printing quality of the printing result and information indicating the cutting position and folding position by the sealing machine can be printed together,
Excellent processing efficiency and little impact on the appearance of printed matter.

In addition, when there are multiple pages to be printed for each job, dot missing detection is performed at the start and end of printing of each page, so an unnatural operation such as temporarily interrupting printing in the middle of the page Is not performed, there is no possibility that the user will be confused.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, in the case where continuous paper having a sewing line 81 and a feed hole 82 is used, the quality information (symbol image B) is printed on the end 83 where the feed hole 82 is arranged. But you can. According to this configuration, since the quality information (symbol image B) is not printed in the print area 84 of the print data, there is no possibility of deteriorating the appearance of the printed matter (print data).

Further, as quality information, text data or a predetermined mark may be printed as quality information instead of a configuration in which a coded symbol image is printed. Further, these quality information may be printed in a predetermined color.

Furthermore, in the above description, the clogging of each nozzle is detected by converting the contact state with the ink droplets ejected from each nozzle of the print head 61 into the output voltage as dot missing detection. Detection may be performed using other methods. For example, the detection may be performed by irradiating laser light and detecting whether or not the irradiated light is blocked by the ejected ink droplets, or a vibration plate is provided at a position facing the print head 61, A configuration in which clogging of each nozzle is detected based on the vibration state of the vibration plate caused by the discharged ink droplets may be employed.

Further, in the above description, as a printed matter created by the printing apparatus 1, a delivery to a customer represented by direct mail is taken as an example. However, any type of printed matter created by the printing apparatus 1 may be used.

Furthermore, although an inkjet printer has been described as an example of the printing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the printing apparatus 1 is not limited to an inkjet printer. For example, a thermal printing apparatus 1 may be applied as the printing apparatus 1 of the present invention. In this case, for example, the temperature in the vicinity of the print head may be detected, and it may be determined whether or not the thermal head has a problem based on the detected temperature. Further, the resistance value for each dot may be detected, and a case where there is an abnormally high value dot may be regarded as a problem. If there is a problem with the thermal system, it is necessary to replace the thermal head.

It is also possible to provide each function of the printing apparatus 1 shown in the above example as a program. Further, the program can be provided by being stored in a recording medium (not shown). CD-ROM, flash ROM, memory card (compact flash (registered trademark), smart media, memory stick, etc.), compact disk, magneto-optical disk, digital versatile disk, flexible disk, hard disk, etc. can be used as the recording medium. is there.

Note that, regardless of the example of the printing apparatus 1 in the above-described embodiment, the apparatus configuration, processing steps, and the like can be changed as appropriate without departing from the gist of the present invention.

1 is an external perspective view of a printing apparatus. It is the schematic which shows the print head periphery. It is a control block diagram of a printing apparatus. It is a figure which illustrates print data (a) and a print medium (b). It is a flowchart which shows a series of dot missing detection and quality information printing based on this. It is explanatory drawing which shows concretely a series of dot missing detection and quality information printing based on this. It is a figure which shows an example about the printing area | region of quality information.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing apparatus 31 ... Printing part 32 ... Feeding part 34 ... Maintenance part 35 ... Control part
62 ... Discharge sensor 63 ... Wiping unit 64 ... Suction unit 65 ... Suction pump 171 ... CPU 172 ... ROM 175 ... RAM B ... Symbol image

Claims (11)

Print data printing means for printing print data configured in predetermined job units;
Detecting means for detecting whether or not the print data printing means has a defect at each timing during printing of the print data and at the end of printing;
A printing apparatus comprising: a quality information printing unit that prints quality information indicating that there is a defect on a print medium when the detection unit detects the defect. When the detection means detects the malfunction at a timing during the printing,
The print data printing means includes
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print data that has been printed is reprinted. If the detection means does not detect the problem at the end of printing,
The quality information printing means includes
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further printing quality information indicating that there is no defect. The detection means includes
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection is further performed at a timing immediately before the printing of the print data is started. The quality information printing means includes
5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, as the quality information, a total number of printed pages is further printed for each print data. 6. The quality information printing means includes
6. The quality information according to claim 1, wherein the quality information is encoded and printed.
The printing apparatus according to item. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a printed matter of the printing apparatus is to be sealed by a sealing machine including a reading unit that reads the printed quality information. . When the number of pages required for printing one print data is a plurality of pages,
The detection means includes
The printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the detection is performed at each timing immediately before the start of printing of each page and at the end of printing. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is an inkjet printer. A program for causing a computer to function each means in the printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9. A print data printing step for printing print data configured in predetermined job units;
A detection step of detecting whether or not there is a defect in the print data printing step at each timing during printing of the print data and at the end of printing;
A quality information printing method for a printing apparatus, comprising: a quality information printing step for printing quality information indicating that there is a defect on a print medium when the defect is detected in the detection step.

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